Cooperative Members and Patrons

The users of the services that the cooperative offers are known as “patrons.” Cooperatives can be formed for many different purposes and by many different types of patrons. Cooperatives are formed by consumers, producers, workers, and sometimes by a combination of those groups. “Patronage” is the term that describes how the patrons use the cooperative. So, for example, the patronage of a consumer cooperative is the purchase of goods from the cooperative; patronage of a producer cooperative is the transfer of goods to the cooperative to be marketed by the cooperative; patronage of a worker cooperati